The VA stole hope from a wounded warrior, and it ended in tragedy

Hope is sometimes the only thing a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can cling to, so when it is carelessly snatched away, the gaping hole it leaves in the healing process can be insurmountable. That is what happened to Eric Bivens when a Veterans Administration doctor carelessly told him that the treatment he had been scheduled for had no purpose and wouldn’t help.

Gold Star mom Debbie Lee of America’s Mighty Warriors Foundation told the story to Mike Opelka on today’s “Pure Opelka.” Bivens was scheduled to begin treatment for PTSD at the Rocky Mountain Hyperbaric Center for on August 2, the anniversary of Lee’s own Navy Seal son’s death. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or HBOT, has been show in numerous studies worldwide to be an effective treatment of traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

Bivens had been looking forward to his HBOT session, but after that doctor told him it was useless, “he had lost all hope,” Lee reported. He started drinking the very next day in addition to abusing his prescription pain medication, eventually taking his own life. He is survived by his wife and two young daughters.

She asked that any veteran or their family that is struggling with obtaining the treatment that works for their individual brain to please reach out to her organization. There are many studies showing good results from HBOT, but some vets feel relief with hormone and vitamin therapy, also.

To see more from Mike, visit his channel onTheBlaze and listen live to “Pure Opelka” weekdays 7–10 p.m. ET & Saturdays 6–9 a.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.